An Interactive Guide to NPR's List of Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books

Where do you want to start? Do you like Cyberpunk? Are you going to be upset when you don't find Harry Potter? Gritty Noir, Neo-Victorian or Samurai? Ready to blast into space? Are you new to the fantasy genre? Are you a war buff? Don't you mean underground? Sure! Like the Arthurian legend? Who shall we fight? What kind of Aliens would you like? A galaxy far, far away? Politics, Religion or Philosophy? Ah, Mars...what would you like to see from the Red Planet? Which character do you like best? Looking for modern-day settings? Are you having a laugh? What's your interest? Pick your poison! Sure do. God or people under the streets? Are you a fan of westerns? Kind of professorial, aren't we? Sure do. Are animals more your thing? What are you studying? Do you have time for a series? What's your ideal pet? How about some alternate history? Short stories it is then! Romance or warring magicians? Ready to dive into a series? Does the series have to be finished? With pirates or without? What's your pleasure? We won't tell.

Confessions of a Shopaholic" by Sophie KinsellaOK. DON'T PANIC. Don'tpanic. It's only a VISA bill.Film Noir PhotosSaturday, April 20, 2013 Sweater Girl: Jan Sterling Posted by k5psb at 12:00 AM No comments: Links to this post Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestThe ecological badminton robot: Optimizing energy efficiency in machine designA robot to play with! A childhood’s dream has now come true for researchers at the Flanders’ Mechatronics Technology Centre (FMTC) in Belgium. Wim Symens and his team pioneered the development of the first robot ever to play badminton. But this robot is only a guinea pig to test a software application designed to optimise energy efficiency in machine design.

26 Books Every Man Must ReadHeard the tired old mantra: ‘Men Don’t Read’? Publishers and marketers have been touting this lie for ages because they’ve told themselves that women read more and men don’t read at all, regardless of the validity of this statement. Because it’s simply NOT true. Men LOVE to read. Tons of them do. My father is a reader.Hotel Huettenpalast in BerlinEveryone is looking for something different in their hotel experience—some crave numerous amenities; some look for a spot with interesting architecture or an otherwise unforgettable space; and some just want a cheap bed to crash on. The funky hotel Huettenpalast in Berlin delivers on all three of those, which makes it a must visit in my book. You can stay in their hotel rooms or book one of the three indoor caravans and huts featured here for a more unconventional sleep experience. Equal parts campgound, art installation, and childhood fort, this cluster of “rooms” seems too cool to pass up—luckily they cost only 60 euros ($85) a night. The hotel also has a garden, a cafe and bar that host frequent events, and other fun things to explore.

Top 40 Useful Sites To Learn New SkillsThe web is a powerful resource that can easily help you learn new skills. You just have to know where to look. Sure, you can use Google, Yahoo, or Bing to search for sites where you can learn new skills5 Reasons We May Live in a MultiverseThe universe we live in may not be the only one out there. In fact, our universe could be just one of an infinite number of universes making up a "multiverse." Though the concept may stretch credulity, there's good physics behind it.

Engineers solve a biological mystery and boost artificial intelligenceBy simulating 25,000 generations of evolution within computers, Cornell University engineering and robotics researchers have discovered why biological networks tend to be organized as modules -- a finding that will lead to a deeper understanding of the evolution of complexity. The new insight also will help evolve artificial intelligence, so robot brains can acquire the grace and cunning of animals. From brains to gene regulatory networks, many biological entities are organized into modules -- dense clusters of interconnected parts within a complex network. For decades biologists have wanted to know why humans, bacteria and other organisms evolved in a modular fashion. Like engineers, nature builds things modularly by building and combining distinct parts, but that does not explain how such modularity evolved in the first place.